Tuesday

E-mail scams: Just how stupid are people?

Posted by
Southern Man

I receive at least ten email scams a day. I usually delete them with little thought. Occasionally I will report one but that seems to give birth to a rash of similar scams.

When I do happen to read one it makes me wonder just how many people actually fall for these scams. They are laughable if you take the time to investigate them. I would recommend deleting anything that promises millions for doing nothing more than giving out your personal information (Duh!). But for those of you who believe that there is a pile of money waiting to fall into you lap, here are some things to look for:

This is a copy of the last scam I received:

From: BROADCAST7@telefonica.net (BROADCAST7@telefonica.net)

Hi, Im Sgt. Ken Holland of the US Marine in Ba'qubah,Iraq. Im in possesion of some funds totalling $15.5M proceeds from a Crude Oil deal. I would like to enlist your support to transfer these funds.Since we are working here on Official capacity we cannot keep this funds thats why we need you. If you are interested, do reach me so that i can give you further details.Send your reply thru my secure email id: sgt.kenh3@yahoo.com.hk
Sgt. Ken Holland

Okay, first you should be wondering how this guy in Iraq got your email. If that doesn't get your antenna up you may ask why the email is from one address while he gives you another to respond to. You should be asking what a Marine is doing making crude oil deals worth millions. He is alleging that what he is doing is a violation of the rules to begin with; why would you want to be a part of that?

Still interested eh? There are a few more clues that this may be a scam. The benevolent Sgt. claims to be in Iraq right? He also claims to be a United States Marie as well. So why then is the email your being asked to respond to based out of Hong Kong? You could do an internet search for Sgt. Ken Holland. That returns about 243,000 results. Click a few and see what you find.

You could also try sites like 419 Bater that debunk these types of scams.

The problem is that those who are going to respond to this email to begin with are not going to investigate. They are looking for a quick score; a way to get rich without the work required. Bottom line; these scams must make good money or they would not be so damn common.

If you feel the need to give away your hard earned money you can send it to me. I won't even lie to you; I'm going to piss it away on beer and music equipment. If that alternative doesn't appeal to you I guess you can vote a few more Democrats into office. That seems to effectively eliminate disposable income without having to waste time responding to fraudulent emails.

Hi friend.I receive this e-mail spam almost over 500 a month and they keep on coming with new idea. Sometimes, it is funny though to read this scam, their story is almost the same. Only the place and the character is different.